The Great Wall of Marietta

We took Friday off of work, the long 4th of July weekend wasnt enough. With the rain last weekend and Hurricane Dennis on its way we needed to make the most of our time. We were finally sick of looking at the planting bed at the front of the house. Todd had already excavated several randomly planted bushes, I had chopped down the holly bush and together we hooked up a chain to the tow hitch on the back of Todd's truck and pulled out the rest of the bushes and their roots. As we were pulling the bushes out what do you think happend? It rained, cutting short our fun. The next day Todd took the chain saw to the rest of the bushes levelling them. We still need to remove the roots from the planting area.
But, back to Friday. We decided we were sick of looking at the barren planting area and wanted to do something to improve it, it was ugly. Todd had been talking about a retaining wall for a while so we went over to Home Depot Landscape Supply (cheaper than Home Depot stores) to check out their block selection. We decided on the Pavestone Windsor in Buff. We bought a full pallet and the paver base they recommended. We got back home and Todd started laying the first course of blocks. I played project supervisor. The pictures below were taken on the 2nd day after Todd got the front, left corner and side installed. Thank goodness for the shade we put up, it was in the 90's both days with 75-80% humidity both days. It made a huge difference. With rain in the forecast for the afternoon I asked Todd around 9am how long he thought it would take to get the rest of the walls built. He told me 2 hours and I laughed. Any wonder why?




So here we are 8 hours later and all done! We added another course and finished the right corner and wall. Todd had to chisel off some concrete at the bottom of the porch and chip several blocks a little at a time in order to get them to fit correctly. We also got a truckload of fill dirt and filled the planter and leveled it.

As you can tell from the pictures, the first out-lying rings from Hurricane Dennis had arrived. It was started to sprinkle just as we were cleaning up the tools and putting them away. Now we plan to condition the soil and till it to get a good mixture. Then Ill be picking out the plants for the bed. There are so many plants to choose from Im not sure yet what Ill pick. Since its expected to rain most of Sunday I doubt we will be doing anymore with the planting bed this weekend.

If you look at the 2nd picture you should be able to see some railroad ties on the right side of the picture. Eventually we plan to remove them since they have been buried under ivy for so many years and have rotted as a result. We are planning to plant my hydrangea bushes between the railroad ties and the retaining wall to help hide the ugly underside of the concrete porch.